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moment he sat motionless, his eyes fixed on Karl's. Then he shook his head. "No. There's no way it can be done. I can't be in two places at once. How can I defend my barony and decide whether or not Pirondael is guilty?" "You can't, Baron. You're going to have to go along with Slovotsky, and decide for yourself." Slowly, Karl drew his sword and balanced the flat of the blade on the palms of his hands. "We'll button up here; I can't go anywhere until Ellegon's well enough to travel, anyway. I'll do my best to safeguard Furnael Keep for you. You have the word of Karl Cullinane on that." Furnael hesitated. Karl wanted to take that for assent, but he sensed that if he pushed the baron at this moment, it would only push him away from what had to be done. Page 151 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html Finally, Furnael nodded. "We shall do it." "Fine." Karl slipped the sword back into its sheath. "Walter, I want you out of here before sunup. How many do you want to take with you? Twenty, thirty?" Slovotsky spat. "Don't be silly. That'd be suicide. It's got to be a tiny group, to have any chance of getting through, and into the castle." He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, sitting silently for so long that Karl was beginning to wonder if there was something wrong. Slovotsky's eyes snapped open; he shrugged. "Okay. The group is me, the baron, either Henrad or Andrea " "Not Andy. I need her here." "Make it Henrad, then I'm going to need some magic. And I'll need someone to handle the horses Restius should do for that and one other. Ahira?" The dwarf nodded. "I was hoping you'd ask." He pushed his chair back away from the table. "We'd better decide on equipment and get packed." Ahira looked up at Karl. "Are you sure you can hold out here until we can relieve you?" Karl shrugged. "No. But I'd better. You see another way?" "No. I'm worrying about the dragon. Do you think he's going to be okay?" "I don't know. We'll just have to wait and see." file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%...g%20-%2003%20-%20The%20Silver%20Cr own.txt (216 of 261) [12/29/2004 12:57:40 AM] file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E-books/Joel%20Rosenberg%20-%2003%2 0-%20The%20Silver%20Crown.txt *Not... terribly long.* The voice was distant, and it was weak. But it was there. Karl didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He settled for slapping his hands together. "Okay, people, let's get to work." CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE Biemestren Revisited It is a bad plan that admits of no modification . Publilius Syrus Walter Slovotsky moved quietly through the dark night, slipping in and out of the shadows of Biemstren Castle like a wraith. Two hundred yards to the west, a dozen peasant shacks huddled up against the outer wall like moss against a tree. Four hundred yards to the east was the outer wall's main gate. But this stretch of wall was empty, the grasses growing almost chest-high. "Just a short way, Baron," he whispered to Furnael. The baron's breathing was heavy; he considered offering Furnael a hand, but decided that the old man's pride would be wounded. This wasn't a job for an old man. On the other hand, complaining about Furnael didn't make sense; the baron, after all, was a manifestly necessary component of any plan to put the baron on the throne. So? Who says I have to be logical all the time? I'm Walter Slovotsky, dammit, not Leonard Nimoy . To his left, Henrad stumbled. Ahira's hand whipped out, caught and lifted him, setting Henrad back on his feet before the boy could fall. Slovotsky shook his head. Henrad might be coming along well in his magical studies, but he'd be about as useful on a quiet recon as a belled cow. He kept looking behind him, as though he could see where Restius waited with the horses, or possibly what was going on a week's ride away at Furnael Keep. file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%...g%20-%2003%20-%20The%20Silver%20Cr own.txt (217 of 261) [12/29/2004 12:57:40 AM] Page 152 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E-books/Joel%20Rosenberg%20-%2003%2 0-%20The%20Silver%20Crown.txt Walter shook his head. That was going to be a bitch if the Holts and slavers were attacking with any kind of seriousness. Karl me boy, I sure hope that you're every bit as good as everybody else thinks you are . Granted, the defense had the edge in this kind of warfare, but it wasn't an insuperable one. Everything really depended on how many of the Holts were moving on Furnael Keep. Or had moved on Furnael Keep; it could actually all be over by now. Come to think of it Whoa. Methinks you'd better get your mind back on what you're supposed to be doing, Walter me boy. You 're doing with your mind what Henrad is doing with his eyes . Despite the silent complaining, he was pleased with how things were going, so far. Though it was obviously bad for morale for someone in authority to gripe openly, a constant stream of silent complaints helped Walter keep himself sane. Relatively sane, at least. Besides, being impressed with his own abilities was something he still hadn't gotten over. In the old days, he was large and reasonably well coordinated, but it would have been difficult to think of himself as terribly graceful. Spiderman, watch my smoke , he thought. Then: Walter, Walter, remember Slovotsky's Law Number Seven: Thou shalt always cover thy ass . The castle guard wasn't set up badly, but whoever had set out the guards had been more capable at maintaining order than security: two-man watchfires were scattered evenly on the outer ramparts, touring sentries only on the inner curtain wall. It didn't take a military genius to deduce a manpower shortage; the main gate on the outer wall was only lightly manned, and the northern bastion wasn't manned at all. Still, that wasn't surprising, Walter decided. The bastion was supposed to be a strongpoint for an active defense of the castle, not a lookout tower. Pirondael or the commander of the House Guard, more likely expected to know in advance about any attack in force, and would man the bastion when appropriate. Slovotsky nodded his approval. The commander of the House Guard was right; any large force would have been spotted long since. On the other hand, the ramparts overhead were silent and empty, which pleased Slovotsky as the four of them crouched in the dark at the base of the wall. Overhead, the massive stone merlons at the top of the wall stood invitingly. file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%...g%20-%2003%20-%20The%20Silver%20Cr own.txt (218 of 261) [12/29/2004 12:57:40 AM] file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E-books/Joel%20Rosenberg%20-%2003%2 0-%20The%20Silver%20Crown.txt Ahira beckoned to him. "Ready? Or do you need a rest?" Slovotsky shook his head. "We human flies don't need rest." "Eh?" " Do it, Ahira, do it." While Walter slipped into his suede climbing gloves, the dwarf reached over his shoulder and unfastened a long braided-leather rope from his rucksack. Ahira measured the merlon by eye, adjusting the size of his loop. He swung the rope several times around his head and threw. The loop settled raggedly around the stone merlon; Ahira twitched at the rope Page 153 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html to settle it into place, then pulled it tight. "You're on," the dwarf said, taking a strain on the rope. The trick to climbing up a rope was to let the feet and the leg muscles do as much of the work as possible; only the foolish relied on the weaker shoulder muscles any more than absolutely necessary. Walter Slovotsky swarmed up the rope like a squirrel up a tree. At the top of the wall, he lowered himself to the stone walkway and listened. That was one of the tricks of the trade: At night, the ears were every bit as important as [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |
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